I used it quite a bit last winter at the gym I was going to. It's a pretty neat system, I felt it was bennificial because it required even more stabalizing muscles in the same sense as someone going from machines to free weights (please note - this is just my opinion).

I especially liked doing core workouts using these. I find my hips can be weak as an extention of my core so doing planks, mtn climbers, etc, with my feet in the TRX was a great way to get a more complete workout.

All this being said, the cost of these things seems a little outrageous for what you get.

As mentioned by other posters, TRX is great for core strength and strengthening muscles that assist in joint stability. We have had 8-10 TRX's where I work for over two years. They're holding up well to heavy use, except for the foam on the handles, which wears off eventually - but the TRX can still be used OK without the foam on the handles. For about half the price of a TRX, Jungle Gym is very similar. I have not used one but the handles and foot straps appear to be better quality than the TRX. Homemade jobs, as mentioned, can be made with long daisy chains, a few biners, and some standard cable machine hand attachments. If you're interested in strength without adding bulk, a suspension trainer is the way to go.

I recently built a TRX inspired suspension trainer. I'm really happy with my setup. I used a 30' length of 1" webbing, four rap rings, and a set of mountain bike lock on grips as handles.

using two rap rings you can make a pretty nifty height adjustment setup for the handles that takes literally fractions of a second to slide up and down. I'll post pictures when I get home from work. Only cost me 26 bucks for everything at REI.

Anyway, I've been doing core circuits on it and I love it. I also do rotator cuff exercises at then end of my climbing days. These rotator cuff exercises are really helping to prevent the chronic shoulder problems I've had in the past. Totally worth the time and money.

IMO, buying the 200$ TRX system would be a pretty dumb thing to do given that you can build one for so much less.

if you buy lashing straps they usually come with a buckle that adjusts the length.

True. In my case I had the rings just hanging in the bottom of my bin so I wanted to make use of them rather than buy something else.

Okay, sorry I forgot to post these up last night but here are some photos. Hope you can get an idea of how it works:

First image is of the handle hanging in its neutral state and the way it looks when pressure is applied (i.e. you are hanging on it)

Second image: Lifting on the free end of the webbing releases the 'lock' and allows the rings to slide up the webbing raising the handles

Third image: Pulling down on the outside ring releases the lock. Pulling on handle will slide it down the webbing, lowering the height.

Forth image: What one handle looks like complete

And finally: The view I get while I'm doing my TRX routine with the sun going down

Setting the rings up like this locks the webbing super tight. I've used this sort of double ring lock to create a 2:1 locking pulley to tension slack lines (four rings total with each set of two rings being a 'pulley'). In that case I usually back it up with a knot but I've never had any slippage problems.

I'm all for building your own TRX system. Especially because there are easy ways to make it more climbing specific. I'd keep the same basic principles, but work on different handle grips- slopers, pinches, etc.

more power to you if you can make your own, I have 2 TRX's that I use together to do fully suspended exercises. It is a lot of fun, I enjoy my TRX workouts and its great for my core / whole body strength.